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Columbia Pictures
Background: Columbia Pictures is a major film production company owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment. It was founded in 1918? as CBC Film Sales. CBC Film Sales (1918?-1924) Nicknames: TBA Logo: TBA FX/SFX: TBA Music/Sounds: TBA Availability: Probably rare. Editor’s Note: None. Columbia Pictures 1st Logo (1924-1927) Nicknames: “The Female Roman Soldier”, “‘20s Female Roman Soldier” Logo: On a dark grey background, we see a female Roman soldier holding wheat. FX/SFX: TBA Music/Sounds: TBA Availability: Ultra rare. Editor’s Note: None. 2nd Logo (1928-1936) Nicknames: “The Torch Lady”, “‘20s Torch Lady” Logo: On a black background, we see a torch lady and will remain this way from this point forward. “COLUMBIA PICTURES CORPORATION” and “Presents” appear above and below the logo, respectively. FX/SFX: The torch rays. Music/Sounds: A majestic fanfare, similar to the CBS Fox Home Video logo. Availability: Uncommon. Editor’s Note: None. 3rd Logo (1936-1976) Nicknames: “The Torch Lady II”, “‘30s Torch Lady”, “Ultra Common Torch Lady” Logo: On a dark background filled with clouds, we see a torch lady, this time standing on a pedestal, and will remain this way from this point forward. “COLUMBIA” appears above the logo. Variant: Starting in 1974, “A DIVISION OF COLUMBIA PICTURES INDUSTRIES, INC.” appears below the logo. FX/SFX: The torch rays and the text. Music/Sounds: Usually the opening theme. On some films, this logo appears to be silent. Rarely, a fanfare was used. Availability: Ultra common. * The original variant is ultra common. * The variant with the byline is scarce. Editor’s Note: None. 4th Logo (1976-1982) Nicknames: “The Torch Lady III”, “‘70s Torch Lady”, “The Sunburst”, “‘70s Sunburst” Logo: We see a less detailed version of the last logo. The camera zooms in to the torch as it reveals a sunburst, which zooms out on a black background. A dome appears behind the sunburst and “Columbia Pictures” appears below. FX/SFX: The sunburst and the zoom ins and outs. Music/Sounds: A majestic orchestral fanfare with violins and synthesizers. Of course, like many other movie logos, the opening theme could play over it, or silent, but usually not. Availability: Rare. Editor’s Note: This logo was used in international territories until 1982. 5th Logo (June 5, 1981-May 14, 1993) Nicknames: “The Torch Lady IV”, “‘80s Torch Lady”, “The Sunburst II”, “‘80s Sunburst”, “Ultra Common Torch Lady II” Logo: We see an even more less detailed version of the 1936 logo. This logo is the same as before, but the camera doesn’t zoom in, it stays. Like before, the sunburst appears and “Columbia” and “Pictures” fade in on the left and right sides of the torch lady, respectively. Variant: Starting around 1989, the company name fades in about a second after the logo fades in. There is no sunburst in this variation. Closing Variants: * 1981?-1989: The print logo with “A Columbia Pictures Release” below it. Sometimes with or without a dome. * 1989-1992; April 30, 1993: Same as before, but the torch lady is taller and the sunburst is smaller. * 1992-May 14, 1993; November 24, 1993: Same as before, but with “COLUMBIA PICTURES” and the SPE byline below one another. A River Runs Through It and El Mariachi, as well as Castle Rock Films, have “RELEASED BY” above the logo. Josh and S.A.M. has a variant where “A COLUMBIA PICTURES RELEASE” is above the “RELEASED BY” variant, though the film itself would use the 1993 logo at the beginning. FX/SFX: The sunburst and the company name fading in. Music/Sounds: Usually silent or the opening theme. Music/Sounds Variant: Rarely, the previous logo’s theme was used. Availability: Very common. * The first film to use this logo was Nice Dreams. * The original variant is uncommon. * The 1989 version is extremely rare. * The last film to use this logo was Lost in Yonkers. Editor’s Note: None. 6th Logo (June 18, 1993- ) Nicknames: “The Torch Lady V”, “‘90s Torch Lady” Logo: We start out on a black background. We see a white light, as if in sunburst, appears. About a brief second later, the cloud background fades in. The camera zooms out to reveal the torch lady. “COLUMBIA” in a silver chiseled font fades in above the logo and the clouds move very slowly to the right. Byline: * June 18, 1993-1999?: (bylineless) * May 3, 1996-October 11, 2013: “a SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT company” (it is slightly off center. On The Juror, the byline appears larger and looks like it was pasted on the bylineless version. However, some post-1996 films, such as I Know What You Did Last Summer, Dance With Me and Vampires may have the logo without the byline, while trailers and TV spots continued to use the bylineless version until 1999.) * February 7, 2014- : “a Sony Company” (on The Monuments Men and RoboCop, the byline appears smaller.) Variants: * Starting in 2006, the logo is given a more “enhanced” look. The torch lady’s finger tip is at a different position, the sky background is darker and the “COLUMBIA” text has more silver in it and is slightly off center. * Starting with The Amazing Spider Man 2, the Sony logo now transitions to this logo. Closing Variants: * June 18-November 19, 1993; 2005; May 26, 2017- : One early closing variant has the boxed torch lady at center, the “COLUMBIA PICTURES” text and the SPE byline are below one another. Sometimes, the text and byline are smaller to fit the width of the box. * December 10, 1993-December 21, 2016: We see a box with the cloud background and the torch lady inside it. The cloud background and the torch overlap the top of the box. Next to it are the stacked words “COLUMBIA PICTURES”. Below the text is the phrase “A COLUMBIA PICTURES RELEASE” or “RELEASED BY” above the logo. Sometimes, “A COLUMBIA PICTURES RELEASE” isn’t there. Sometimes, it’s bylineless. FX/SFX: The movement of the camera and clouds. Music/Sounds: A majestic orchestral theme done by Jonathan Elias. Here are three versions of the theme: one that’s more synthesized, one that’s orchestrated with a piano in the orchestration and the third, starting with Vampires, both themes are mixed together. Sometimes, it’s silent or has the opening theme. Music/Sounds Variants: * On Boog and Elliot’s Midnight Bun Run and The ChubbChubbs Save X-Mas!, 2/3 of the 2006 Sony Pictures Animation theme is heard. * There is a high tone theme on such films like Zathura: A Space Adventure, The Pink Panther, Open Season, Casino Royale, Ghost Rider, A Pursuit of Happiness, Catch and Release, Cloudy with a Chance or Meatballs, How Do You Know?, the 2012 remake of Total Recall and Hotel Transylvania. * A double pitched version exists on Hollow Man. * On Palmetto, yet another arrangement of the theme is used with flutes. This was only used on original prints, as current prints remove this logo from WarnerMedia’s film library, as Palmetto is a Castle Rock film. * On Finding Forrester, the fanfare is played on a guitar. Availability: Current. It has placed in front of Columbia films for over 25 years. * The first film to use this logo was Last Action Hero. * The bylineless variant is probably rare and it first appeared on the aforementioned film above. * The Sony Pictures Entertainment logo is pretty common and it first appeared on The Craft. * The enhanced variant is uncommon, bordering on rare and it first appeared on The Holiday and last appeared on Captain Phillips. * The Sony logo first appeared on The Monuments Men. Editor’s Note: None.